Big-hitting Bubba Watson set to use driver sparingly at Ryder Cup

Bubba Watson is one of the longest hitters in golf but he does not expect to use his pink-shafted driver too often this week.    

"Golf courses are getting longer but they are not letting you hit longer tee shots," the 31-year-old US Ryder Cup rookie told reporters on Wednesday. "They are still putting bunkers, rough, something in the way so that you have to lay back.

"On this course you have to lay back a lot. You can try to bomb it in the 10-yard wide fairway but for the most part it's just about hitting fairways and we are going to hit mid to long irons into the par-threes and par-fours."                                           

Watson can sometimes be wild off the tee and was asked how many times he would be using his driver at Celtic Manor. "My partner is probably going to tell me to hit less (but) I'd say maybe four to five," he replied.

The layout has been saturated by heavy rain already this week and Watson said that would be another factor which would determine how frequently he took the driver out of the bag.

"It can always vary because (bad) weather is going to make you hit driver, it's not going to go as far," he explained.                                           

The self-taught Watson, who claimed his maiden US PGA Tour title with an emotional win at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut in June, compared his wayward tee shots to those of world number two Phil Mickelson.   

"Tiger Woods's game is different to mine, Jim Furyk's is different to mine but Phil? -- well, his is pretty close to mine and we both miss fairways a lot," said Watson.

The left-hander, who regularly belts the ball 350 yards off the tee, said the Ryder Cup would be decided on and around the greens.

"It will all come down to putting and chipping," said Watson. "If you can putt and chip well, whoever you're playing, you''re going to stand a great chance of winning your match. 

"There''s going to be a lot of high rough so if you miss the fairways you are not going to be able to get to the greens and it''s going to rely on wedge shots and making the putt."